Endings....beginnings!

Adrian came to collect his mandola and octave mandolin last week and here he is, in the workshop, with his new OM.  It was a treat to hear the instruments played as they should be and it was really enjoyable working with Adrian on his double commission; if you want to see and hear these instruments in action, try to catch Adrian with his excellent band The Fried Pirates.

 I’ve just completed the rosette on Ian’s model 2 guitar. There’s been a lot of thinking time with this one! The sound hole is oval, so after some initial design work, I had a dry run on making the recesses for the rosette and used this as a guide for marking out.

 So here’s the story of Ian’s rosette…….

Very happy with this!

Next the sides have to go together and as the shape is asymmetrical, has a cutaway and there are four side pieces, more careful planning is required.

Making something as unorthodox as my model 2 shape is quite intense, so as “light relief” I’ve been prepping the wood for the next two mandolins. I like to build up a kit of parts, over a period of time and feel that resting the wood helps to build a stable instrument. Alan’s Standard (plus handmade tailpiece); this one has a red spruce top and bubinga back and sides.

And David’s Standard Plus; western red cedar top and English walnut back and sides.

And just in today is a fresh batch of 10 prime red spruce tops from the USA